Rose Tinted Snow
by Royal Amphitrite
Summary: Something wet and red and thick splatters against everything she is. It seeps within her skin, it drowns her and sets her ablaze all at once. She only wants everything to be okay and her heart throbs because she knows it isn't. Everything is wrong. Nezuku is grateful for the dark when it finds her. Tanjiro, she thinks, I'm so very sorry.


She shutters when something wet splatters against the knuckles of her hands.

The same hands that were holding her baby brother. Her fingers dancing across his stomach, causing eruptions of giggles to burst from his mouth as he arched away from her.

Something wet splatters against her face. The same face that carries a content smile. Carries lips that comfort her siblings when Tanjiro is away, a face that folds in order to accommodate the dimples in her cheeks and a face that complements the sparkle of her eyes.

Something wet splatters against her favorite kimono. An expensive, rose pink, silk one that her brother worked so hard to earn the money for.

Something wet is red and thick, and slow. Something wet splatters against everything she is and it's so toxic she thinks she can feel it seep into her skin. She thinks she can feel it drown her insides, envelope her in it's evil.

Something _so very wet and red and thick and slow_ splatters against Nezuku and her eyes widen, her breath hitches, her heart freezes, as she realizes that she is soiled by her brother's blood.

The world stops turning, the universe is paralyzed in Nezuku's mind. She chokes on her spit as she watches her brother choke on his blood. His throat is ripped open unmercifully, his eyes meeting hers; the utter desperation screaming at her from her brother's gaze is sucking the soul out of her body.

_Danger, danger, danger _is ringing repeatedly in the depths of her head. Her nerves are having a frenzy as she watches a flash of black dash from room to room. _Danger, danger, __**move**_! She knows better than to let her shock chain her down. No matter how heavy and solid and real the chains of fear are.

Nezuku doesn't have much experience with this; she doesn't know to fight, she doesn't have medical experience, she doesn't do well with panic. Nezuku is ill-prepared and afraid, and so her first instinct is to protect, the only thing she knows how to do.

Nezuku hurriedly pulls her brother to her front, ignoring the blood pouring from his throat. She bites her lip as she hears his gurgles of breath and she closes her eyes as she dashes towards the exit of her house; trying her best to silence the screams of her mother and her other siblings.

"Demon!"

"Mommy!"

"No. No-_please_! Please, no _leave them_ _be_! I_**-Hanako**_!"

"Oh, my _baby_…please stop. _Stop_!"

"_Mommy_! Mom-!"

"Stop, _I_ _beg of you_! Plea-…"

They make it one foot away from the door. Winter is clawing at Nezuku's skin, the sudden tilt of chill throwing off her homeostasis. Her right foot meets white snow just before a force throws her away from her brother, propelling her forward with so much strength she's in the air for over five seconds before she slams into the ground so hard, she's sure it cracks.

Her brother lands only a few feet away from her, as still as a dead-man. She attempts to crawl towards him, even with a very deep ache in her bones and a very deep bruise on her side. Nezuku's left-hand reaches forward. Then her right. Then her left. Left, right, left, right, left, _pain_.

Nezuku screams and cringes as she feels all her fingers break at once. She stares at her hand; there's a foot atop it, dressed in a sleek, black shoe.

"_Shhhhh_…quiet, child."

Piercing, lava red eyes meet her own. The eyes are old, matured. They are fierce and they are powerful. The eyes of a demon. Nezuku whimpers.

He seemed human. Not monster-like and otherworldly, as the village people claimed. Everything about him looked normal, it made her feel all the more petrified.

"You're uniquely beautiful, girl." The demon tilts his head, licking a trace of blood on the edge of his mouth.

"Hmm, human bodies are so weak. I find very few who can handle much of my blood." His jaw tightens as his fingers wrap around Nezuku's chin. He pulled her face closer to hers, inhaling deeply as he did so.

"You smell delicious. I should've eaten some of you first. Unfortunately, I'm feeling full." His black nails dig into her skin.

The man is silent for a few seconds more until he drops his hand and grips one of her arms. "What mystical, enrapturing diamond pink eyes you have…I wonder what they would look like if set them aflame?"

"_Wait_\- "Nezuku starts. She is cut off by her own screech. His nails had lacerated her forearm, leaving a long stretch of blood across her flesh. She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe, she could only feel every cell in her body be set ablaze.

He then walks away, hands in his pockets and a nonchalant look on his face. As if he hadn't just destroyed an entire family. Nezuku had never felt such a strong urge to kill.

She refocuses herself, eyes locking on the blurry form of her brother. She drags herself towards him again, she is sure no one will stop her.

"Rokuta." The name weakly tumbles out of her mouth.

"Rokuta." She's almost there.

"_Rokuta, Rokuta, Rokuta_." She curls herself around him, becoming a shelter.

Nezuku's arms tighten around him. She searches for any sort of warmth, any sign of life. There is none. She tells herself it's the temperature or the pain, that she's too numb to feel anything at all.

Nezuku is blinder as her eyes well up with water and salt. She wretches up a sob, surrounded by blood-stained snow and broken wood. She only wants peace. She wants everything to be okay. Her heart throbs because she knows it isn't. Everything is very wrong.

Tears roll down her face. A face Nezuku wishes could smile. _I don't want them to die_. She's still burning, Hell must exist, because it's been such a long time, and nothing has stopped burning. _Why are they dying?_

A weight lays over her, making her thoughts sluggish. Quieting her mind. It feels relieving and suffocating at the same time.

She wonders how she could feel so tired when she is drenched in agony. When her family needs her help. When that demon is walking away. Nezuku's eyes flutter and she's grateful for the dark when it finds her.

Her mind rests, and she hopes that she's had an awful nightmare and when she wakes up, it'll all be a dream; and if not, then she wishes her mind never wakes again.

_Tanjiro_, she thinks, _I'm so very sorry, big brother_.

* * *

When she opens her eyes, melancholy washes over her.

_Why are her eyes open?_

She's being carried because her legs are not moving. Something is in her mouth, it's slightly uncomfortable. Nothing is familiar…except for a smell. Cinnamon and sweat and rain. The welcoming smell of her big brother.

Nezuku falls into a sense of security. She spirals into a dizzy calmness. She doesn't remember much, and everything in her head is foggy, but she knows she's where she's supposed to be.

Nezuku knows that Tanjiro will fix everything; with her help. They would make it together to wherever they were supposed to be.

She gets sleepy once more, let's her body relax, shifting her head and burning her face in her brother's neck. She wishes they weren't alone, that they didn't have to make it anywhere. She's guilty of failing her loved ones. Nezuku feels sorry in every way.

_Tanjiro_, she hopes the words pass through her lips, _I'm so very sorry_.

* * *

…_**Well hello there, stranger.**_

_**It's a short fic today, apologies. Inspiration is a river…you get the idea.**_

_**Thank you for reading my very first Kimetsu no Yaiba story, constructive criticism is welcome, opinions are not. Or are they the same thing? *shrug*.**_

_**Anyways, please leave a kudos or comment or maybe both. Feel free either way. If you like my writing so much you wanna follow me, then be yourself; no one is judging you for bad decisions. You learn from your mistakes.**_

_**Question of the week: Um, none I can't think of any. Any ideas?**_

_**Love, R.A.**_


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